The present invention is directed to a device for melting snow and ice on outdoor surfaces, such as driveways, walkways, and sidewalks in a selective and controllable manner. Examples of prior art devices are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos.: 3,410,977; 3,683,152; 3,758,748; and 4,159,595. U.S. Pat. No. 4,270,596 discloses a mat heating device for use in radiating heating systems. These prior art devices allow for warming of surfaces, but are impractical in use, and do not allow for adapation to many differently-shaped road surfaces and configurations of outdoor surfaces.
It is well-known that deposits or ice or snow or deiveways, sidewalks, and walkways cause not only danger and hardship to pedestrians and automobiles, but also cause hardship in the removal of the snow or ice from the surface, if possible. It would, therefore, be highly beneficial to provide a device for melting the snow or ice from the outdoor surface in an easy, safe, and economical manner. However, since the shape and sizes of roadways, walkways, and sidewalks vary from site to site, it has been hitherto impractical to provide a device that can melt snow or ice from the surfaces and still be adaptable to all locations and sites where snow and ice need to be removed.
It has also been a problem that in order to melt the snow or ice and to prevent its re-formation on the outdoor surface, great expense has been required due to the high energy use supplied to the device for melting the snow and ice, whether such energy be in the form of electric, chemical, and the like.